Stock-picking managers try to fathom fallout from Woodford storm

Shuttering of top actively managed fund comes at the wrong time for already battered asset managers

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By

David Ricketts

September 9, 2019 12:01 am GMT

Stock-pickers began this year in a downbeat mood, having failed yet again to convince investors that they are capable of delivering performance in line with the fees they charge.

So the news on June 3 that Neil Woodford’s £3.7bn Equity Income fund had closed to dealing was something active managers — with no connection at all to the industry’s one-time poster boy, beyond working in the same corner of the industry — really did not need.